Lalitpur, May 25: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Sharat Singh Bhandari, called for leveraging the employment opportunities within country.
At a discussion on ‘Promotion of internal employment and reintegration of returnee workers’ organized by his ministry here Sunday, Minister Bhandari spoke of the need to dispel the despair regarding bleak prospects of employment in the country.
Stating that there were many opportunities in the country, the Minister claimed the employers here were struggling to find locally suitable employees, often resorting to hiring workers from abroad.
On the occasion, Bhandari shared the government was working to create a labour market where aspiring employees could land up a job based on their qualification and skills. “This effort will be linked with the Nagarik App for greater accessibility,” he informed, highlighting the government’s ongoing efforts to reintegrate the returnee workers and engage those looking for job.
Furthermore, he mentioned that his ministry was working towards job creation by identifying the opportunities at home in addition to facilitating foreign employment.
Also speaking at the event, National Planning Commission’s Vice-Chairperson Prof Dr Shivaraj Adhikari underscored the need to create jobs in a productive sector. He called for investment in the potential sectors such as agriculture, construction and tourism.
According to him, it would take more than Rs 323 billion of investment to obtain the objectives outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Likewise, Ministry’s Secretary Krishna Hhari Puskar identified that the shortage of skilled human resources to be the major hurdle in employment sector. He wondered over the attitude of shunning or feeling ashamed of working within the country while not hesitating to do the same or similar work abroad. Such attitude has led to unemployment in the country, he argued.
Similarly, Social Security Fund’s Executive Director Kabiraj Adhikari shed light on the Fund’s role in providing health security and financial support after retirement of the contributors.
Domestic Employment Promotion Division Chief, Krishna Prasad Sapkota, expressed his confidence that the suggestions sought from the participants on the issues relating to labour market management, creation of industrial environment, management of labour market information system and social security would be very useful for the ministry.
Returnee Network Nepal’s President Uttam Adhikari urged effective implementation of the ‘start-up’ project to engage and empower the foreign employment returnees and ensure that their skills are utilized at scale.
